Abedi Ayew Won the UEFA CL 30 years Ago Today : 30 years ago, Olympique de Marseille became the first French club in history to win the UEFA Champions League by beating AC Milan (1-0) in the final.
The final was played at the Olympiastadion in Munich on 26th May 1993. Ivorian- born French footballer Basile Boli scored the only goal of the game and it was the Ghana maestro Abedi Ayew who assisted the winner from a corner kick.
Since that time , no other French club has been able to win the European competition again.
Abedi Ayew was one of the first African players to make an impact on European club football. Abedi Pelé’s nomadic career began with Real Tamale United in Ghana in 1978.
He left Ghana after the 1982 African Cup of Nations to join Al Sadd in Qatar for a $1,000 transfer fee.[9] After a short spell with FC Zürich, he returned to Ghana but, after both Kotoko and Hearts of Oak failed to sign him, joined AS Dragons FC de l’Ouémé in Benin.
He would later return to Ghana and play for Real Tamale United for one season. He began his career in Europe with French side Chamois Niort, subsequently joining Marseille before transferring to Lille on loan.
At club level, he was a key figure in Marseille’s dominance of the French league, resulting in four league championships and two European Cup finals appearances.
At Marseille, he was a member of the team’s “Magical Trio” along with Jean-Pierre Papin and Chris Waddle, spearheading perhaps Europe’s strongest league side of the early 1990s, including a European Cup final defeat in 1991.
Abedi was the only remaining member of the trio still with the side when Marseille defeated Milan in the 1993 Champions League final in Munich.
He later joined Lyon after his loan spell at Lille. He also played for Torino of Italy and rounded out his European career with 1860 Munich.
Abedi Pele went on to sign a two-year contract with Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates and was nominated one of the best foreign players to play in the UAE league.
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